Article received from Forturity Parners, 20 Oct 2017



Geelong, situated on Port Phillip Bay 75kms South-West of Melbourne, has long been known as a working class manufacturing city.   But this image is transforming into a dynamic city with great lifestyle thanks to economic diversification, affordability and the old real estate mantra, location, location, location.

Geelong is Victoria’s second largest city with a population of approx 235,000 is set to grow by 36.5% to over 320,000 in under 20 years and more than double in size to over 500,000 by 2050.

With Melbourne growing at an astonishing 125,000 people in 2016, its boundaries are exploding. To put that growth into perspective, at that rate, it will grow by a city the size of Adelaide in only 8 years. That is insatiable demand for new housing. The Victorian government understands the need to direct some of this massive growth to its second largest city Geelong.  They have just cut payroll tax by 25% for Geelong making its tax rate the lowest in Australia which should have a huge impact on attractive local businesses. They also doubled the FHOG to encourage buyers to relocate to Geelong.


Like Sydney, Melbourne’s house prices have boomed in recent years making it unaffordable to a large section of the population. Geelong is benefiting from this boom as buyers look for affordability and lifestyle.
A $5Billion rail link was recently completed meaning commuters can catch a train in Geelong and be in Melbourne in under an hour.  With the very real possibility of future fast trains this trip could be slashed to only 35 minutes. Together, with the proposed Western Distributor project that is estimated to cut road travel times into Melbourne by 20 minutes, Geelong is set to be more like an outer suburb than a regional city.

A brand new city is being built half way between Melbourne and Geelong called the Werribee East Employment.  This state-of-the-art city will create approx 60,000 new jobs.


Barwon Heads and Torquay are the closest surf beaches to Melbourne and are only 25mins south of Geelong. Demand for housing is huge from wealthy Melbournians wanting a weekender near the beach. So property prices are high and set to boom over the coming decade from cashed up baby boomers wanting a seachange.

Geelong’s location not only offers a great lifestyle, its perfectly located for business. Its the largest regional port in Victoria with trade set to triple in under 15 years. The city is on the main train line and freight routes and has Melbourne’s second airport just 20 minutes down the road. Avalon Airport is set to become international, have a rail link and retail, industrial and commercial expansions creating thousands of new jobs.

Past and present Victorian government’s support Geelong’s expansion through infrastructure spending and relocation of government agencies to Geelong. Funding has been provided to build the health, education, agriculture and tourism industries providing thousands of more new jobs.

Armstrong Creek in Geelong has the highest rate of first home owners in Victoria. The Victorian Government has recently announced that the FHOG will be doubled in regional Victoria with no stamp duty payable up to $500,000.  This incentive will push demand through the roof in Geelong.

If you are looking for the right location to invest, Geelong represents all of the fundamentals for successful property investment. Population growth, jobs growth, infrastructure spending, affordability, low vacancy, and location, location, location!!